The senior collegiates had a little advantage over the other team in poise, but the academy girls were fast and eager. The game began under the close attention of a very much interested audience composed of the whole school, teachers, and as many visitors as the collegiate contest had boasted. The shrill whistle of the referee sounded “ever and anon,” as Isabel said to Cathalina, next to whom she sat, with a firm grip on Cathalina’s hand, which she clutched in her excitement. Cathalina said afterward that she could have shut her eyes and known how the game was going from Isabel’s grip and exclamations. This time, as a collegiate, Isabel had her heart with Hilary’s team. Isabel had grown out of the noisy period, but in tones loud enough to be heard by Cathalina, and by Virgie, on the other side of her, Isabel’s conversation ran on with the game. “O, get the ball, Hilary! That’s fine. Oh, mercy, she is going to try the basket herself instead of giving it to Pauline—she never can make it at that distance!” Quick withdrawal of Isabel’s hand from Cathalina’s, as with the rest of the audience she applauded Hilary’s placing the ball in the basket from an awkward position. “That was great! A few more plays like that—sakes, we’ve lost the ball now. How in the world did that happen! That guard ought not to have been there! Good work, Juliet. Another basket! For pity’s sake, keep the ball. Pshaw, what a fumble! Jump for it girlie. There,—our ball. Good play. But they are pretty good at keeping our girls from making a basket. ‘Toot-toot,’ time’s up.”
Cathalina turned laughing to Isabel. “You need a rest as much as the team, Isabel. Virgie, did you ever see anybody as tense? I begin to get that way, too, but I don’t dare; it makes me almost sick.”
Virginia assented. “I have to hold myself in hand, too, but it doesn’t make Isabel sick. She thrives on excitement. She will go right to sleep tonight, while I will be seeing the game for half an hour at least. How much are we ahead?”
“Not enough to feel easy about for the rest of the game,” said Isabel. “I’ve got to work just as hard the rest of the time,” she added, with a whimsical smile.
“How did it ever happen that you did not play basket-ball on one of the teams?” asked Virginia.
“Promised my father and Jim that I wouldn’t.”
“Aren’t they interested in athletics?”
“The boys play everything, but Father and Jim said I shouldn’t except in just ordinary games, like the regular practice we used to have at camp. I have to display my prowess in the water sports.”
“You shine there, Isabel,” said Virginia.
“But at that I had to be rescued by Cathalina last year.”